Ever wonder how we choose wedding dresses for our store?! It’s kind of a similar process to how a bride chooses her dream wedding dress – but think on a much larger scale!Read more about our recent trip to National Bridal Market Chicago and what goes into the selection process below!

We can’t wait for this beautiful gown to arrive in store! The color shown here is called Dove Gray! Stay tuned for another blog that goes more in depth about all the upcoming bridal trends!

What is National Bridal Market?

When a bride starts shopping for her dream wedding dress, she may visit a few stores in her area during the process. When we’re shopping for new gowns to add to the store, we go to National Bridal Market!

National Bridal Market is located at the merchandise mart in Chicago. It’s basically a HUGE building that all of the bridal designers come to in order to show us (the boutiques) their newest designs before they’re debuted to the general public. This way we can see and feel the gowns before we decide if they’re the perfect fit for our brides. It’s kind of similar to a bridal show that local venues put on, but on a much GRANDER scale!

Sounds like fun, right?! It’s definitely an exciting experience, but it can also mentally draining! Most designers put out two collections per year – one for the Spring seasons and one for the Fall season. We visit National Bridal Market every fall to order our gowns for the Spring season. That means, most of the beautiful gowns we shop for won’t be in-stores until January of the next year!

We’re still dreaming of the MARIE gown from Blue by Enzoani! Coming soon to TWC.

The selection process

We carry five main wedding dress designers: Blue by Enzoani, Justin Alexander, Kenneth Winston, L’amour by Calla Blanche, and Stella York. On the first day at National Bridal Market, we will go around to each designer and look at their new collections. Most of the designers put on runway shows where we can see the gowns in action! We’ll write down our favorite styles from each designer and discuss them with each other to find the TOP styles for Tampa brides!

We’ll also check out other designers to look at their take on the latest bridal trends! If a new designer blows us away, you bet we add them to our collection!!

On the second day of market, we’ll revisit all of our favorite gowns and start narrowing down what colors and sizes we want our wedding dress samples to be. We ask ourselves questions like “is the gown flattering? is it supportive?”, etc. Once we decide on colors and sizes, we will officially place our orders! Yay! Then we will typically spend the rest of our day shopping for new veils, jewelry, and accessories to complement all of the new gowns we selected!

If we have a little free time, we’ll get out and explore the gorgeous city! What’s a trip to Chicago without seeing The Bean, right?! Along the way we’ll take plenty of pictures and videos to share on social media with you!